Chutnefy was founded by Prasanna Natarajan (43) and Shreyas Raghav (43). Prasanna, an MBA graduate from The Australian National University, and Shreyas, a former banker, combined their expertise and passion for food to create a unique brand.
“I wanted to enter the food industry, and the idea of making a chutney brand was something I had been mulling over for a while,” says Prasanna, who returned to India in 2005 after completing his MBA and began his entrepreneurial journey with a craft spirits company in Goa.
Shreyas approached entrepreneurship with a different perspective. “I always thought that I would only do business if I was giving people something different and unique,” he says.
After seeing a gap in the market for traditional Indian chutneys in ready-to-make formats, Prasanna decided to innovate. “I wanted to reintroduce chutneys in a ready-to-make form. The larger goal was also to introduce it to the world,” he shares.
Made with all-natural ingredients and no preservatives, their chutneys deliver the perfect blend of convenience and authentic flavour.
Chutnefy's goal was to create a product that solved real problems. The founders wanted to shorten preparation time, address quantity issues, and bring traditional chutneys back into the mainstream food palette.
“If you look at the pre-cooked food market, it is laden with additives and preservatives. We wanted to make something that was authentic and preservative-free. Our products have a comparatively shorter shelf-life of just 12 months,” Prasanna explains.
Launched in 2022, Chutnefy offers 14 varieties (as of 2023) of chutneys, including Chettinad chutney, peanut chutney, spicy onion chutney, and curry leaves chutney. Their best-selling flavours are peanut chutney and spicy onion chutney.
The brand has quickly gained traction across India in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, and exports to the UK, Singapore, the US, Canada, and Germany. With sales reaching Rs 50 lakh per month (as of 2023), Chutnefy has found a loyal customer base.
Sagar Mathu, a Chennai native now living in Mumbai for work, says, “The taste is authentic and feels straight out of my mother’s kitchen. I am a fitness enthusiast and their chutneys do not have sugar which is also why I love their products.”
The founders are now eyeing expansion into other food categories. “We want to experiment and see what other foods we can make using the same technology. We are planning to launch smoothies, pasta sauces, and more,” says Shreyas.